I played around with adding RSS feeds to my Internet Explorer and a few website feeds to my Reader. Everything seem to go fine - but with all these feeds going I'm on information overload!! I think I'll lose the CNN feed - too many stories.
I think it takes a lot of finessing to get just the right amount of the right kind of current information fed to our online selves - I mean we all have different tolerances for the time spent sitting in front of a screen. I believe mine to be somewhat low. I often run screaming with dog leash in hand - oh, sorry I digress.
As far as a library tool for Youth Services, I don't believe RSS Aggregators will directly serve our young cliental, unless the "readers" are a manufactured setup rather than an individualized news source. Professionally, their value is obvious. Given the reality that a major portion of our day is spent online -we can stay abreast, via feeds, of a multitude of issues. One downside is mass duplication of news reportings. This, however, might be mediated by the aforementioned finessing.
Adult Services and, to a lesser extent, Teens will see more of a patron-driven interest in Thing #3.
Great post. I do end up with a lot of duplicated news, but limit it to Frisco sources. I'd rather be reminded four times about something going on in town than be clueless. But you're right - for everything else, less is more!
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